"What upsets me most about AIDS is ...": a survey of children and adolescents.
While AIDS-related knowledge and attitudes have been studied in different populations, little attention has been given to emotional reactions to the epidemic or to the validity of frequently employed forced-choice questionnaires. Spontaneous emotional reactions to the AIDS crisis were assessed in 441 fifth, seventh, and tenth graders from one school district. Students responded to one open-ended question, "What upsets me most about AIDS is...." Loglinear analysis revealed grade as a significant variable: fifth graders were most upset by AIDS' lethality, while tenth graders felt helpless. Cognitive and emotional factors were postulated to account for these differences. Students who correctly responded to knowledge-related, open-ended questions were likely to correctly answer comparable forced-choice questions. AIDS education strategies that consider grade-specific anxieties are suggested.
Brown
L K
LK
Brown University, Providence, RI.
Nassau
J H
JH
Levy
V
V
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001007:Anxiety; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires